We rose at 9:30am and lingered over our breakfast until our checkout at 11. From our elevated terrace we had a view of the bright blue harbour down below. The night before, Mia had shared her enthusiasm for Turkish figs with our hostess who nicely included them with our breakfast.

As we walked down to the bus station, the booming cat population was evident. They seem to be pseudo feral with some residents leaving food outside for them. Though they were not big they certainly looked healthy. On the other side of the terminal a local mini-bus was leaving for Dikili in 15min.

The '30min' ride, covering 30km, ended up taking about an hour as we moved through rolling hills filled with fields of grain, fruit orchards & olive groves. The walk down the main street was slightly confusing but after 20min the landfall directed us towards the sea. We followed signs, spaced at random intervals for various pansiyons staying at the first one we came upon as it met our criteria.

Mia went grocery shopping and Eli kept blogging trying to catch up from his Africa notes. Mid-afternoon we walked past the football pitch across from our place and down to the water. By simply asking the question, we go 50% off the (inflated) lounge and umbrella rental price. Mia took in some sun while Eli protected his Baltic skin intent on recording our adventures in this here blog.

Eli went for a dip in the very salty tasting and therefore expectantly buoyant waters of the Aegean Sea. He has minimized to 1 pair of shorts for this 2 week sojourn into south and central turkey. These could serve as a swim suit but instead he opted for his ‘euro’ swimsuit which is actually sports underwear. He pulled it off. Well not literally the underwear, rather he wasn’t out of place.

We watched the sun set behind the silhouette of the kids inexhaustibly jumping off the floating raft anchored just offshore. Nearby there was one local eatery that was open – they are clearly slowing down here with peak summer season in the rear-view mirror. Mia had a chicken döner plate that was very good (we’ve had a few so far) while Eli’s meal was perhaps the best yet in Turkey: Iskander Kebap. Basically beef kebap laid over bread then smothered in yoghurt and tomato sauce then garnished with a 15cm long uniquely spicy and eminently edible green pepper.

Our waiter asked us if we spoke English AFTER we said hello in Turkish and then were unable to respond to his next question. He seemed thrown off at this and recruited his colleague to server us. We picked up some dessert at the store and after a short walk were back at our pansiyon.

We are traveling extremely light on our loop down the Aegean coast and into the strange and beautiful valleys of Cappadocia in central Turkey. As such, we did a bit of sink laundry - something we’ve grown accustomed to from time to time on this trip, before retiring with a comedic episode on our netbook.